Superior Livestock back in hands of local Jim Odle

By Jesse Chaney Brush News-Tribune Staff Writer

Posted:
12/01/2009 03:57:35 PM MST

Updated:
12/01/2009 03:59:26 PM MST

Jim Odle

After selling Superior Livestock Auction in the spring of 2007, co-founder Jim Odle of Brush is again at the helm of the major U.S. livestock marketer.“I’m glad to be back on board,” he said. Odle assumed the role of general manager of Superior Livestock on Nov. 12 after the company was taken over by SLAI, LLC, a wholly owned entity of Farm Credit West, ACA. SLAI obtained the company from the California family that purchased it in 2007, Odle said.“They are big cattle feeders and just got in a financial bind,” he said.Odle said he plans to remain as general manager of the company for as long as it is owned by the bank, which has the ability to maintain ownership indefinitely. Though SLAI may sell Superior Livestock in later years, he said, the company is not currently for sale.“They have bought it and they are going to keep it as a profit center,” he said.Odle said the change in ownership would not affect the day-to-day operations of Superior Livestock in any way. He said the company would continue to implement new programs and technology on a regular basis.“Our business has been run tighter than any business than there is. Not only in that industry, but most industries,” he said. “And it will continue to be run that way.”With a business office in Brush and a video editing and public relations office in Fort Worth, Texas, Superior Livestock Auction markets load-lots of cattle via satellite and the Internet.

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Odle said he founded the business under another name in 1979. He merged the company with Texas-based Amarillo Livestock in 1986, he said, and it became known as Superior Livestock Auction a year later. The company held its first satellite video auction in 1987, he said.“It’s just been a growth company ever since, to where it s the largest livestock market in the United States and possibly even the world,” he said.Superior Livestock now sells more than 1.5 million head of cattle annually, according to company materials.Odle sold the business in 2007 to focus his efforts on securing national television coverage of a cowboy church, he said. Now that the church is on TV and dependable people are managing the project, he said, “I had time to do this again.”A Brush native who farms and ranches in the area, Odle divides his time between the Superior Livestock offices in Brush and Fort Worth, Texas.

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